


It Was the First Time You Saw What I Could Do

by Scriberat



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Fluff, Gen, koumei gets a job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 16:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18703435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scriberat/pseuds/Scriberat
Summary: Koumei said himself that he had started the magic lab before dungeons ever appeared. He had to get funding somehow.





	It Was the First Time You Saw What I Could Do

**Author's Note:**

> a remarkable lack of pigeons in this one. month of mei day 4~

Koumei was reading in a dark corner of one of the usually unused rooms of the library. It was technically a war room, but most of the time, this particular one wasn’t bothered with. He was also squished into a corner near the door, so as to have a chance to hide if anyone came in looking for him. A single candle was lit in front of him, a nice thick blanket covering his body.

 

Sure enough, someone came along. The door swung open and Koumei blew the candle out, a second match prepared so he could light it again once they gave up on finding him. He covered his face and froze, erasing his presence.

 

“That country far to the west, what were they called?” asked a voice.

 

“Musty something,” said a second voice.

 

“Right, yeah. They have an academy dedicated to  _ magic _ . Could you imagine wasting time on such a thing?”

 

Magic, huh? If the country of Magnostadt was studying such a thing, it was important that they didn’t fall behind. Kou was a small country, a minor place in the world, but King Hakutoku was talking about uniting the world under one banner. That meant that this… musty place… would be important in the future.

 

They had to get started  _ now _ .

 

Well, once these two left the room, which was apparently not going to be happening, as more and more people filed into the room. Someone started lighting torches. Koumei held his breath, knowing he would soon be discovered. There was no way someone wouldn’t check the corners of the room to make sure there weren’t any would-be assassins hanging around.

 

“Hey, what’s this?” someone asked, coming toward him. Koumei took the blanket off his head and looked up.

 

“It’s usually quiet in here,” he said in a small voice.

 

“Right, sure. Time to get out, kid.” Koumei nodded and folded his blanket over his arm, then rolled up his book and grabbed the candle. He bowed to everyone as best he could, being the tiny six-year-old he was with so many things occupying his hands, and walked to the door just as Hakutoku came around the corner.

 

“Well, hello, there,” he said, bending down. “With that shock of red hair, you must be one of my brother’s children. Let’s see… Kouen?”

 

“Kou _ mei _ , Your Majesty,” Koumei said, unsure of what to do.

 

“Koumei, huh? What were you doing in this room?” Hakutoku was very kind-sounding. Koumei liked him implicitly.

 

“I was reading.”

 

“Oh? And you picked this place to do so in?”

 

“Your Majesty, our meeting,” someone said.

 

“Yes, yes, I’m coming. You should run along,” Hakutoku said, rubbing Koumei’s head. Koumei squinted from the pats.

 

“I like to read here because it’s not disturbed often,” he said as Hakutoku went into the room. He tugged on the man’s robe before he went too far.

 

“Your Majesty, a couple of the men were talking about a country studying magic.”

 

“You heard that?”

 

“I think we should do the same.” Everyone in the room paused. Then the others started laughing as Hakutoku bent down.

 

“My dear Koumei, we already have excellent tactics,” Hakutoku said, putting a large hand on Koumei’s small shoulder. Koumei shook his head vigorously and dropped the candle.

 

“Uncle, you design new ones all the time! Other countries can do the same, and if we don’t study the same things as other countries, they’ll outmatch us. Magic is the way of the future, I can tell. We have to start as soon as possible,” he said, then bent down and grabbed the candle, having to put it back on its plate.

 

“You’re right. We should seek to fund magical research. How do you suggest we do so?”

 

“Gather up magicians in our country and ask them to study magic for us. If we had a specific place for them, it would be easier. They could all talk to each other. We can learn more about magic and find uses for it, both in war and in daily life,” Koumei said, his mind racing. He could see so many possibilities. He wanted them all.

 

“I see. Draw up some plans for me, and I’ll talk to my architects about building this research facility,” Hakutoku said. He pushed Koumei gently out the door and smiled. Koumei looked back at him.

 

“Koumei, your name means crimson light. I have a feeling you’ll be leading the way to a bright future.”

 

Koumei wasn’t sure what he had meant at that time, but he retreated to his room and got out some low-quality paper for his sketches. He thought of all the things they could do, all the things they might need, and drew them out.

 

“What are you doing?” Kouen asked, peering over his shoulder.   
  
“I have been tasked with great purpose. I’m going to study magic!” Koumei said. He turned to his brother, the awe of having been entrusted with this by the Emperor still in his eyes — only to find that Kouen was staring at him disbelievingly.

 

“Right.”

 

“It’s true! I met His Majesty earlier by accident and we discussed this!”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really really. I only lie when it’ll get me to my room. I’m already here,” Koumei stated. Kouen sighed and sat down next to him.

 

“So, what are your plans?” he asked. Koumei showed him the main room of the facility, the hallways that connected everything, the smaller rooms that had other important things going on.

 

“Where is this gonna be housed?”

 

“Hmm… I don’t know, yet. It’s gotta be somewhere with a lot of land, but not somewhere that can be discovered…”

 

“The mountains? No, they’re too rugged. It wouldn’t be any good to put something in them, since they’d be all split up between the peaks,” Kouen mused, holding his chin. Koumei stopped suddenly.

 

“What if we did put it in the mountains? We could carve a space out and put it in.”

 

“That’s… genius. He should be out of the council soon. Let’s hurry.” The two of them got the papers sorted, with a note that they should be inserted into the mountains, and hurried off to meet their uncle.

 

When they arrived outside the room, the boys found that the meeting was running a little long. Kouen argued with the guards that this was important, but to no avail. Koumei just plopped where he was and started reading.

 

“Brother, this passage is interesting,” he said, waving Kouen over. The elder relented and went to sit and read, too. They passed the time, unmoving except to stretch from the hardwood floor, until the meeting ended.

 

First out were the other men who had been discussing loud and long. Once a crowd of them had left, Hakutoku came out.

 

“Little Koumei, you’ve returned already?”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty. My elder brother helped me at the end. We got a whole bunch of plans together.”

 

“We also know where we can put it so it won’t be detected,” Kouen added, standing to attention. Koumei handed over the papers, and Hakutoku flipped through them, nodding as he did so.

 

“I’ll have these sent to the castle architects. You’ll need to meet with them regularly until this is built. Think you can handle it, Koumei?”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

“And Kouen, I expect, with your swordsmanship training, that you’ll be joining us on the battlefield in a few years?”

 

“Of course, Your Majesty! You can count on me!”

 

Koumei’s next several weeks were spent meeting with the architects and designing things, bringing magicians in to start their work and get a better idea of what they would need. Rock was carved out from the mountains, and a secret underground path was built that only a few people knew of. The room that Koumei and Hakutoku had met in was converted from being just a war room to also being the entrance to that path.

  
  
  


As the years went by, it expanded greatly, with equipment and provisions being brought in for use of the magicians and scholars who studied magic day in and day out. Koumei came up with things for them to do research on, including one very special project that he hoped would eradicate the need to send soldiers to the front lines once and for all.

**Author's Note:**

> let's use walking corpses! the people aren't using them, anymore. they're too busy being rukh


End file.
